My name is Sydnee. You've never heard of me. No reason for you to, after all. It doesn't really bother me. I'm not an Animorph or anything. I've never even met any of them, though I might like to... someday...
They called it the Sharing, it was suppose to be kind of like the boy scouts. It had been just recently set up in the town I was living in at the time. People met up, they had barbeques, played sports, hung out, but also cleaned up beaches and charity stuff. They talked about things like family values and supporting the community and they targeted troubled people and offered them friendship in tough times.
I first went to the Sharing with my friend Randy, although I didn't really want to be there.
Randy had been my friend since I'd moved to this town. He was really my only friend... I was never good at getting along with other kids. Probably because me and my parents were always moving around, because of their jobs, we never stayed anywhere long. Randy and I spent most of our time hanging out in the woods by our neighborhood reading comics and pretending like we were cowboys hiding out from the law... stupid things like that. It was our place, we had a lot of fun... Until one day, he just changed.
You see, Randy had been going through a pretty tough time back then. His parents were in the middle of a divorce. It wasn't pretty. They would scream at each other and Randy would get caught in the middle of it. It wasn't because they were bad people, they just couldn't see what it was doing to their son. I tried to be there for him... but I guess it wasn't enough. I remember he got into a fight at school and he got into a lot of trouble. I learned afterward that the guidance councilor at our school was a member of the Sharing. I figure he's the one who convinced Randy to give the Sharing a try because it wasn't long after that Randy started to go to the meetings... and that's when he really changed.
He didn't want to go to our club house and hang out anymore. He didn't want to read comics or any of that 'kid stuff'. That's what he called it. I tried to understand... even as he began to avoid me. Eventually we stopped hanging out almost altogether. I felt terrible. I kept thinking that it was somehow my fault, that I had done something wrong and he hated me. I guess... I guess I kind of liked him.
That's when he invited me to go to these Sharing meetings, I just wanted to be friends again. I tried to like it, to relax, but I just kept getting more frustrated with him. I'd gone to a couple meetings, but it didn't help. He'd changed so much and I was sick of it. So I decided to leave the stupid meeting when he grabbed my arm.
"What's wrong?"
I remember ripping my arm away from him. "What's wrong? Are you kidding me!? Ever since you joined this stupid club it's like you were abducted by the POD PEOPLE!" It was the worst possible thing I could have been saying at the worst possible place.
People turned to stare at me, including some of the senior members. I was making a scene. It was so stupid. I was really, really stupid.
I remember his face... at the time I didn't get it. His face twitched, like he was having a seizure, but it only lasted for a second. "You're not giving it a chance Syd! This is our chance to be a part of something bigger then ourselves."
"Like what?" I asked, glaring.
I felt a hand on my shoulder, looking up I saw a senior member. A few of them gathered around. "Maybe you'd like to see for yourself." He said.
Before I knew what was happening the senior members ushered me inside the center.
"Randy, what's going on?"
He just smiled. It wasn't a nice smile. I looked around and saw similar smirks on the other members. I tried to pull away, but they pushed me along. When they started to take me down a long staircase I started to struggle. I kicked and pulled but they were stronger then I was.
"Randy, Cut it out! This isn't funny!" I yelled, but he just kept smiling.
As we went further down I could hear something... something that got louder with every step.
Screams.
I was absolutely terrified. It just didn't make any sense, it was insane! This had to be some kind of terrible joke! But they didn't let up and the screams got louder every second. Suddenly we stood in a huge cavern, carved out under ground. It was gigantic, the cavern was probably almost as big as the town. And in the middle was a huge pool.
I was pushed forward, I could see people using strange tools to cut the rocks, opening the cavern wider. This place was brand new and they were expanding...
I saw people in cages. The people were crying and screaming. I had never seen anything like it in my entire life. I had never heard such pure terror. And there were monsters everywhere. Real, honest to god monsters. It was like something out of a nightmare.
There were two ramps leading to the pool and they dragged me to the edge of one of the ramps.
I was crying, begging, terrified. "Randy! Help me! PLEASE!" I screamed.
They forced me to my knees. The liquid below my head looked like molten lead... but I caught glimpses of something moving, just below the surface. Within moment they shoved my head under. The liquid was hot, but it wasn't enough to burn me like I thought. Now it seemed like I was going to drown... and then something touched my ear. I screamed as my head was pulled up from the liquid.
Something was crawling into my EAR! I shook and tried to pull away, to grab it and pull it out. I could feel it. My ear was numb as is it went in deeper and deeper.
Suddenly my body slacked and I was released. I tried to move my head to look around, I tried to stand to run... but I couldn't. I felt something strange... this tingling sensation in my head...
I blinked.
No, I didn't. I suddenly blinked, but I didn't do it. My body did it on it's own. Suddenly I stood up.
{Hello... ah, Sydnee.}
A voice, there was a voice in my HEAD. I tried to scream.
{There's no point in resisting. I control your body now.}
As if to demonstrate, my hand was raised on it's own and rubbed the tears from my face.
{What ARE you!?} I cried out in my head.
{I am known as Nisret 4199 and I am your master.}
That was how I was taken. That was how I was turned into a controller.
A controller is a slave in their own body. They are controlled by a slug-like alien that enters your ear and wraps itself around your brain, sinking into every crevice. It controls you, and all you can do is watch. The truth was Earth was being invaded by an alien race called the Yeerks. The rest of the world didn't even know it was happening...
But you probably know all about that.
Yeerks can look into your mind. They can see your memories, they can read your thoughts like a book, see how you act and mimic you perfectly.
I tried to fight it, I really did, but I couldn't. I couldn't break free. I threatened it, I pleaded with it... but it was all in vain. I was trapped. For months I was a prisoner. I watched other people like me that were dragged to the pool, begging and screaming and turned into slaves. I couldn't warn them, I couldn't do anything.
I remember walking home that day. My body moving on it's own. I couldn't move a single muscle. I didn't even choose when to breathe, the Yeerk did.
The Yeerk opened my memories, it used them to find out where I lived. I remember walking in and sitting on the couch. The Yeerk took in the surroundings.
It opened my mind again.
My earliest memories came flooding back, some went by in flashes, others the Yeerk seemed to linger on...
I was on a swig, at the park, in a city far away from this small town. It was cold and wet from rain, but I didn't care. I was on the swing kicking as hard as I could trying to go higher and higher, then I launched myself into the air! Soaring for a few moments before landing on the wet earth.
"Sydnee!"
My dad, he was angry, I was in trouble.
Then it was gone. The memories flooded back as vivid as the first time I'd experienced them.
It was the first day of kindergarten. I squeezed my mothers hand and cried. I begged her to take me home, I begged her not to leave me. I didn't like this place, I didn't want to be here.
My mother pulled her hand out of mine and left. The other kids were laughing at me.
It was so embarrassing. So humiliating! I didn't want it to see!
was alone in our nearly empty house. I was thirteen, I didn't need a babysitter while my parents were working. In a week or so we'd be moving to a new house.
I opened one of my moving boxes to look through my comics and books. I'd read them all several times. I went to my dad's room and opened one of his boxes. I took a baseball and put the glove on my hand. Throwing it in the air and catching it a few times. I walked over to the window I watched the rain drip down the windowsill, waiting impatiently until the phone rang.
"Hello?" I asked, hopefully.
"Sydnee?"
"Hi dad, are you guys on your way home?"
"I'm sorry Sydnee, we'll be late tonight. Go ahead and eat without us."
"Oh."
He didn't notice the disappointed in my voice. "Don't stay up late." He said as he hung up the phone.
He never noticed.
I felt rage bubbling up inside me. I screamed and threw the baseball.
After a second I ran to the window, the ball had shattered it. I stared out the hole in the window before running back to my room and hiding under the cover and cried.
{STOP IT, STOP IT, STOP IT!} I tried to scream.
To my surprise, the memories did stop.
{Get out!} I screamed. {Get out of me!}
There was a laugh, me, I had laughed out loud. But it wasn't me. "Why would I do that?"
{You can't do this! You wont get away with this!}
"Really? And who's going to stop me?"
I heard something slam. The Yeerk turned my head to look out the window.
My dad! He was home early!
I felt myself smile. "Don't fool yourself." It said. "He won't save you."
It shocked me. It knew what I was thinking the second the thought had entered my mind.
{And I'll prove it to you.} It added mentally as my dad entered the house.
It reached for the remote for the TV, flipping to my favorite channel as my dad walked in.
"Hey dad." I said, halfheartedly, like I was bored.
"Hello Sydnee." My dad replied, the same tone I had.
I saw something in his hands. "What'cha get?" It asked.
My dad handed me a box. It was a small pizza. "I bought some dinner." He said.
It opened the box and made a face. "This has mushrooms on it." It said with disgust and disappointed.
My dad frowned for a moment, he'd forgotten. "Oh! Right, sorry I forgot you don't like them. You can just pick them off."
It shook my head. "No way, it'll still taste like mushrooms."
My dad rolled his eyes. "What's wrong with mushrooms anyway?"
It rolled my eyes in response. "It's a fungus dad, it's nasty."
My dad sighed. "Fine."
I watched him walk away.
{Dad!}
It was unbelievable. Hearing the conversation between the Yeerk and my dad was shocking, frightening. It combed through my brain, learned everything about me, and used it to mimic me perfectly. It had said and done everything I would have.
{What do you think?}
I was speechless. My mind raced, trying to think of something, anything I could do.
But there was nothing...
{Are you beginning to understand? Good.} The Yeerk whispered to me inside my head as it went to the kitchen. {Just give in, it's pointless to resist. You belong to me now.}